1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to techniques for use in optical scanning, of vibrating at least a part of a vibrating body having a light-reflective surface, to thereby allow light, upon entry, to be reflected from the light-reflective surface in varying directions, and more particularly to techniques of optimizing resonant frequency characteristics of the vibrating body by optimizing the shape of the vibrating body.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known apparatuses for use in optical scanning, each of which vibrates at least a part of a vibrating body having a light-reflective surface, to thereby allow light, upon entry, to be reflected from the light-reflective surface in varying directions.
There is known an example of such optical scanning apparatuses which employs a vibrating body including both a reflective mirror having a reflective surface and a couple of elastic beams extending from the reflective mirror and being excited to generate at least a torsional vibration, and in which optical scanning is achieved by vibrating at least a part of the vibrating body. See, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-84226.
Applications in which such kinds of optical scanning apparatuses are utilized include ones in which an increase in scanning frequency is one of critical desires for design.
For example, for the applications in which images are formed using such optical scanning apparatuses, the higher a scanning frequency, the larger the number of scan lines per a single frame of an image. Therefore, for these applications, resolution and definition of a displayed image rely on a scanning frequency, and more specifically, the higher a scanning frequency, the higher resolution and definition of a displayed image.
As a result, for these applications, optical scanning apparatuses are designed to maximize a scanning frequency.